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After the event with the hornets and a day spent shopping for back to school with my baby girl, I find myself lying awake thinking about just how fast time goes. And also how damn scary it is watching your children grow up and realizing more and more how you just can’t protect them from everything.At 1 am I brought the kid into our bed because I wanted to watch her breathe.I never set out to protect her from everything. I knew she would have skinned knees and hurt feelings. But the big, scary things, those I need to protect her from....more

The other night Joe was working late, I got the kid through bedtime and then went downstairs to get on my treadmill and watch Downton Abbey. After my hour was up I walked up to the kitchen and kept listening to my headphones while I cleaned up.I don’t know how long she had been trying to get my attention, but I know that when I finished in the kitchen and started walking up to our bedroom she was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. She needed a bandaid for some minor injury or another, probably imagined. Another excuse to get out of bed and delay sleep a bit more....more

When we got our last Scholastic flyer, the October – Halloween one, the kid saw a face-painting book and focussed right on it. I thought she would forget but she kept bringing it up, day after day. Finally, one day we were at Chapters and I found a similar book. I decided it was an activity we could do, entertain ourselves for a little while, and I picked it up....more

A few weeks ago the kid had a school field trip to a local farm. It was mostly clear while we were visiting but it had been raining, so there was plenty of mud around. At the end of the trip the kid wanted to take a few splashes through one deliciously large mud puddle and I obliged.We were on our way home, what was the harm?...more

Parenting in our house is a team sport. Joe and I try to help each other, back each other up. I can’t begin to imagine how hard this would be for me without him. I can’t imagine what single parents deal with.And I’m going to take a moment to acknowledge and honour just how much I don’t understand how single parents – including my own mother – get through it day after day. I have one child, I have a partner and family support, and I struggle. ...more

My former director has written a book. I pre-ordered it as soon as I could and have been reading it. I haven’t even gotten to the time period where I was there working for him and it’s already stirring memories. There was a book launch downtown tonight and I went. All day I felt like just not going. It was scary for me, this idea of stepping back into that world....more

I have a 3 year old girl and I am terrified of her teenage years. Not because of the fights we’re going to have or the attitude she’s going to give or the clothes she might wear or dates she might bring home.I am terrified because of Rehtaeh Parsons.She was 16, she was assaulted and then her peers decided to send the pictures around and laugh about it and when she protested they started the bullying and it didn’t stop even after she’d killed herself....more

Today CBC Radio had two discussions about women in politics (First on Ottawa Morning, then on Ontario Today). As I watched commentary on Twitter about these discussions I noted several people asking why the panel of three female politicians on the Ottawa Morning panel (Katherine Hobbs from Ottawa’s city council, Madeleine Meilleur, an Ontario MPP, and Megan Leslie a federal MP) didn’t include a mother....more